Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lab Tests Show CRISPR Gene Editing Can Damage Embryos
The Wall Street Journal: Crispr Gene Editing Can Lead To Big Mistakes In Human Embryos
Scientists using the Crispr gene-editing technology in human embryos to try to repair a gene that causes hereditary blindness found it made unintended and unwanted changes, frequently eliminating an entire chromosome or large sections of it. The study published Thursday in the journal Cell comes as the international scientific community continues to grapple with the potential use of Crispr for editing human embryos that would be intended for creating a pregnancy and birth. (Dockser Marcus, 10/29)
AP: Lab Tests Show Risks Of Using CRISPR Gene Editing On Embryos
A lab experiment aimed at fixing defective DNA in human embryos shows what can go wrong with this type of gene editing and why leading scientists say it’s too unsafe to try. In more than half of the cases, the editing caused unintended changes, such as loss of an entire chromosome or big chunks of it. Columbia University researchers describe their work Thursday in the journal Cell. They used CRISPR-cas9, the same chemical tool that a Chinese scientist used on embryos in 2018 to help make the world’s first gene-edited babies, which landed him in prison and drew international scorn. (Marchione, 10/29)
In other science and research news —
Stat: Training The Innate Immune System To Thwart Cancer Could Aid Therapy
Until now, immunotherapy has relied on revving up just one arm of the immune system against tumors. But scientists reported Thursday that in animal experiments, they trained a different arm to beat back cancer, pointing to a new potential treatment pathway. (Cooney, 10/29)
NPR: Why Some Memories Seem Like Movies: 'Time Cells' Discovered In Human Brains
If you fall off a bike, you'll probably end up with a cinematic memory of the experience: the wind in your hair, the pebble on the road, then the pain. That's known as an episodic memory. And now researchers have identified cells in the human brain that make this sort of memory possible, a team reports in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The cells are called time cells, and they place a sort of time stamp on memories as they are being formed. That allows us to recall sequences of events or experiences in the right order. (Hamilton, 10/29)
